Current programs

The program’s main activity is a middle school student exchange.  The exchange group consists of approximately 18 student ambassadors per city, selected in Sebastopol and Takeo.  The participants are in their 7th or the 8th grade year of study when selected during the fall application period.  Each group cycle lasts 2 years; in the first year, Takeo students visit and stay with their Sebastopol counterparts, and in the second year, Sebastopol students visit Takeo.  American and Japanese student ambassadors are paired with one another or matched in small groupings and homestay at each other’s houses for approximately 11 days in spring, experiencing their respective cities, cultures and lifestyles.  The student exchange offers adult cultural exchange opportunities, as well, by means of hosting visitors and traveling as part of an adult group or as a chaperone.

Many Sebastopol students, families, and citizens have had the unique opportunity to gain rich cultural experiences through the program, whether in Takeo or in Sebastopol.  They have created lifetime friendships bridging the Pacific Ocean and become part of the people to people diplomacy movement.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant shutdown, our program has been postponed. Our current group of students who hosted a Takeo student in March of 2019, are still waiting to visit Takeo when it is deemed safe to travel internationally. SWF and Takeo World Friends are closely watching the updates and travel restrictions. We are committed to resuming our program and organizing our current students’ travel to Takeo as soon as possible. We now hope to go in Summer 2021.

For more information, please contact us at takeo@sebastopolwf.org.

History of the Takeo program

In 1985, Sebastopol, California, and Yamauchi, Japan, signed a sister city charter as members of the Sister Cities International.  Shortly after that time, Sebastopol World Friends began organizing regular cultural exchanges between the two cities in collaboration with Takeo World Friends (formerly Yamauchi World Friends).

In 2008, Yamauchi merged with its neighboring towns and formed the new city of Takeo.  In 2011, a new sister city agreement was signed in Sebastopol by the mayors of both cities.

In 2011, SWF received grants from Sister Cities International and the Japan Foundation to organize a Sustainable Development study tour. Eight citizens from our community visited Takeo to learn their best practices in the field of sustainable development.

In 2012, in response to our community’s interest in sustainable development, SWF hosted a delegation of five college students studying fair trade at Kagoshima University in Kagoshima Prefecture on Kyushu Island, Japan From the success of this experience, a new program was developed in collaboration with Kagoshima University Global Institute Center in 2017, and SWF has hosted several student groups through this program since then.

The year 2015 marked the 30th anniversary of this sister city relationship.